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Excess Capacity and Difficulty of Exit: Evidence from Japan’s Electronics Industry (SpringerBriefs in Economics)
by Sumio Saruyama Peng XuThis book provides cases and analyses of causes and consequences of difficulty in downsizing and exiting in the electronics industry during the “two lost decades” in Japan. Because of excess capacity in the industry, many electronics companies have been required for downsizing and exit since the 1990s. Exploiting corporate financial and segment datasets, it shows empirical evidence of misallocation of internal funds to “zombie” segments—intra-firm businesses suffering losses consecutively. The topics addressed in the book include the failure of Japanese corporate internal control systems, the lack of capital market pressure, employment protection, and misallocation of internal funds to businesses with few prospects. The last two decades indicate that the Japanese corporate governance systems have failed to resolve problems of excess capacity, as did US systems in the 1980s. Zombie lending is no more than one phase of the difficulty of downsizing and exit in response to excess capacity in the banking sector. Supported by both data analyses and rich anecdotal evidence, this book is highly recommended to readers who seek a convincing and comprehensive explanation of Japan's two lost decades from the points of view of difficulty in downsizing and exit. The authors’ analyses have implications not only for accelerating downsizing and exit in corporate Japan, but also for the world economy.
Spatial Economics for Building Back Better: The Japanese Experience (Economics, Law, and Institutions in Asia Pacific)
by Masahisa Fujita Nobuaki Hamaguchi Yoshihiro KameyamaThe central theme of this book is national land and infrastructure design in the age of the declining population and the recovery from the Great East Japan Earthquake in the affected regions in Japan. Based on the theory of spatial economics and evidence from Japanese history, the authors show that the growing economy with a population increase develops into a multi-cored and complex structure. In the population decline phase, however, such construction will be destabilized because of agglomeration economies in the central core. Then, a catastrophic shock that strikes may provoke the decline of the lower-rank-size provincial cities and their eventual disappearance if they compete only in lower prices of staple products. Not only is the practice bad for the residents; it also leads to lower national welfare resulting from the loss of diversity and overcrowded big cities. The authors argue that small local towns can recover and will be sustained if they will endeavor in innovative production by making good use of local natural resources and social capital. Under the ongoing declining population in Japan, an undesirable concentration in Tokyo will proceed further with increasing social cost and risk. The recent novel coronavirus pandemic has highlighted that concern.
Cross-Border Data Transfers Regulations in the Context of International Trade Law: A PRC Perspective
by Yihan DaiThis book focuses on the PRC’s cross-border data transfer legislation in recent years, as well as the implications for international trade law. The book addresses the convergence of industries and technologies notably caused by digitization; the issue of conflicts between goods and services; and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) as well as the difficulty of classifying service sectors under WTO members’ commitments. The book also examines the FTAs that entered into force after 2012 that regulate digital trade beyond the venue of the WTO and analyzes their rules of relevance for cross-border data flows and international trade. It asks whether and how these FTAs have deliberately reacted to the increasing importance of data flows as well as to the trouble of governing them in the context of global governance
Evicitionism: The compromise solution to the pro-life pro-choice debate controversy
by Walter E. BlockThis book applies libertarian property rights theory to a vexing controversy, abortion. This book offers a compromise solution that will not fully please either of the two sides of this debate, but, is the only possible reconciliation between the two. Nor are its benefits limited to the fact that the opposing forces in this debate may be brought together. Evictionism, also, is the only philosophical position compatible with human rights; neither of the other two can make this claim.There are many other publications and learned articles supporting the pro-life position as well as defending the pro-life viewpoint. This is the only book that offers a perspective on abortion that is radically different than both. This book uniquely applies private property rights theories we all agree upon when referred to issues such as real estate, crime, torts, etc., to abortion. The underlying philosophical contribution of Evictionism this book presents is that these basic legal premises can be utilized in this controversial case as well as practically everywhere else in law.Want to solve the abortion controversy? Want to demonstrate that both the pro-life and the pro-choice positions are erroneous? Want to read about a position that is a compromise between the pro-life and the pro-choice positions? Then this book provides robust understanding, discussions and applications for getting to the truth about this issue.
Evaluation on Government Transparency Index in China (Understanding China)
by Yanbin Lv He TianThis book presents the outcomes of a study on indices of rule by law in China conducted by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS). Since 2009, a group of researchers at the CASS Institute of Law has worked to assess the Chinese government’s transparency. In this context, they designed an index system to truthfully record and reflect the reality and development of openness in the Chinese government for eight consecutive years. This book compiles their reports on each year’s development, systematically combining quantitative analysis and the status quo for each year. Thanks to these reports, readers will be able to clearly understand the evolution of the Chinese government’s openness during these eight years. They highlight what the government has done to improve transparency, what has been achieved, and the goals for the future. These reports have not only been acclaimed in academic circles, but have also greatly influenced government policies and procedures. For example, the assessment was expanded to the judicial system including the Supreme People’s Court, maritime court, and local provincial courts in 2011, and ever since the national judicial system’s openness has been considerably improved, in response to recommendations based on the assessment.
Protecting Built Heritage in Hong Kong (SpringerBriefs in Law)
by Steven Brian GallagherThis Brief is the first comprehensive coverage of law and policy intended to protect built heritage in Hong Kong. Although characterized as a city of skyscrapers and modernity, Hong Kong has a rich cultural heritage and a surprisingly rich built heritage. The text considers what “built heritage” means in Hong Kong and what built heritage there is in Hong Kong. It introduces general readers, practitioners and students to the issues facing built heritage protection and how such protection usually develops in a modern city. In particular, it considers the problems and disputes that provided the focus for development of law and policy in Hong Kong, especially the legacy of 150 years as a British colony and the consequent identification as a “borrowed” and “temporary” place. The Brief considers how effective law and policy has been in protecting built heritage under the colonial and post-colonial administrations- their successes and failures. These include the Kowloon-Canton Railway Station, the Antiquities and Monuments Ordinance, reclamation of Victoria Harbour, violent protests at Queen’s Pier, and the introduction of mandatory heritage impact assessments for government projects. The text concludes noting recent successes, which may indicate a brighter future for the protection of Hong Kong’s built heritage.
Data Governance Success: Growing and Sustaining Data Governance
by Rupa MahantiWhile good data is an enterprise asset, bad data is an enterprise liability. Data governance enables you to effectively and proactively manage data assets throughout the enterprise by providing guidance in the form of policies, standards, processes and rules and defining roles and responsibilities outlining who will do what, with respect to data. While implementing data governance is not rocket science, it is not a simple exercise. There is a lot confusion around what data governance is, and a lot of challenges in the implementation of data governance. Data governance is not a project or a one-off exercise but a journey that involves a significant amount of effort, time and investment and cultural change and a number of factors to take into consideration to achieve and sustain data governance success. Data Governance Success: Growing and Sustaining Data Governance is the third and final book in the Data Governance series and discusses the following:• Data governance perceptions and challenges • Key considerations when implementing data governance to achieve and sustain success• Strategy and data governance• Different data governance maturity frameworks• Data governance – people and process elements• Data governance metricsThis book shares the combined knowledge related to data and data governance that the author has gained over the years of working in different industrial and research programs and projects associated with data, processes, and technologies and unique perspectives of Thought Leaders and Data Experts through Interviews conducted. This book will be highly beneficial for IT students, academicians, information management and business professionals and researchers to enhance their knowledge to support and succeed in data governance implementations. This book is technology agnostic and contains a balance of concepts and examples and illustrations making it easy for the readers to understand and relate to their own specific data projects.
Reputational Crises Unspun: A Stakeholder Solution to Reputational Crises
by Tom SchermerThis book reviews dominant crisis communication theories, which according to many scholars are either too narrow or broad for practical application to all types of reputational crises. Freeman, as the progenitor of modern stakeholder theory, has spent much time since the original publication trying to remove the primary focus from companies to that of achieving broader positive outcomes for organisations, populations, and the operating environment. This book embraces the ethos of Freeman’s revisions and applies it to crisis communication through placing the reputational crisis at the centre of a stakeholder map, where other literature places the company at the centre of the stakeholder map. This leaves the company experiencing the crisis situated with all other crisis stakeholders to develop solutions to the source of conflict, and as a result, the reputational crisis.Removing the corporation from the centre allows for other stakeholders such as interest groups, politicians, media, and afflicted stakeholders, to legitimately work towards solving the crisis. This book uses a typology of apologia and builds upon it to create a means that allows corporate managers to genuinely apologise to crisis victims, without necessarily exposing the corporation to financial liability claims. The apologia construct developed herein is equally useful to CEO’s as it is in a domestic situation.Consistent throughout this book is the philosophy that all reputational crises can be either solved, or significantly reduced in terms of impact. Examples used throughout relate to reader’s personal lives as well as structured powerful organisations.
Econo-Legal Studies: Thinking Through the Lenses of Economics and Law
by Shinya Ouchi Hiroshi Takahashi Takashi YanagawaThis book is the first attempt to establish a collaborative and interdisciplinary field of economics and legal studies. It is designed to help readers – advanced undergraduate and graduate students, but also fellow scholars who are interested in interdisciplinarity – to think through the dual lenses of economics and law. “Econo-Legal Studies,” as we call it, is an economics that pays greater attention to the perspective and heritage of legal studies, and at the same time legal studies that fully utilize the views and methods of economics – while “law and economics” is just a one-way economic approach to law focusing on the effects of the latter on efficiency. The aim of this book is to encourage readers to think like economists and, at the same time, legal scholars as they analyze complex real-world issues. It presents stimulating discussions on the intersection of law and economics, the differences and unexpected similarities between the two perspectives, and the new insights to be gained when approaching a problem from both angles. For this purpose, the extensive corpus of knowledge produced within the framework of the Econo-Legal Studies interdisciplinary program at Kobe University can be capitalized on. Basic knowledge of both economics and law is also included in this volume, making it an engaging read for beginners in both fields as well.
Accountability and Transparency in the Modern Anthropocene
by Glen LehmanThe book is about accountability processes and how they contribute solutions to our current environmental and global political problems. This book is different to other literature in this field. This is so because the dominant accountability discourse is shaped by what is defined as a neoliberal business case for social and environmental reform. This book assumes a nirvana stance within globalisation where all citizens operate within the parameters of the free market and will recover from adverse economic and political damage. Further this book uses neoliberalism and free-market reforms aims as examples to implement efficient management technologies and create more competitive pressures. Central to the argument of the book are perspectives on authenticity, expressivism and interpretivism which are found to provide a radical reworking of our understanding of being in the world. These frameworks offer a starting point for rethinking the way individuals, businesses and communities ought to be dealing politically with accountability and ecological crises. The argument builds to an accountability perspective that utilises work from expressivism, interpretivism, classical liberalism and postmodern theory. The theoretical quest undertaken in this book is to develop connections between accountability, democratic, ethical and ecological perspectives.
Developing University Social Responsibility: A Business Ethics Approach to Information Disclosure in Japan
by Keikoh RyuThis book analyzes the growing importance of information disclosure in Japanese universities in the context of the country’s changing circumstances from both a macroscopic and microscopic perspective, with a focus on the concept of universities as organizations. This macroscopic analysis is based on available data concerning the various information disclosure practices of Japanese universities and includes a discussion of their strengths and weaknesses. As for the microscopic analysis, questionnaires and various other quantitative methods have been used to study overall satisfaction with the level of disclosure among students and teachers in public and private universities, including differences between Japanese and Chinese students. The results of these surveys have then been analyzed to identify the main factors informing students’ views on the subject. Finally, additional insight into the practice of information disclosure in Japanese universities has been provided in a series of representative case studies, which should help promote further study concerning the practical applications of such disclosure. Based on the above analysis, this book proposes a social responsibility-based approach to university information disclosure, which incorporates stakeholder theory-based identification of public information content, an underlying focus on disclosure as a means to realize universities’ social responsibilities, identification of the types of information that universities should seek to disclose, recommendations for developing a framework for the systematic disclosure of such information, and recent disclosure trends. As part of this approach, recommendations concerning the arrangement of different sources of information, thoughts on building a publicly accessible platform for sharing university information, and key points underlying the systematic disclosure of information within universities are also proposed. Finally, this book is helpful in identifying further areas of research, including but not necessarily limited to the ideas and legal principles underlying the construction of a university information disclosure system, the development of information disclosure systems based on social responsibility, and the development of various standards for the disclosure of information. The ideal approach would ensure that all stakeholders are provided with meaningful access to relevant information, and that transparency takes precedence over any competing considerations as part of an overriding effort to improve university administration and oversight.
Sociology of Law: A Study of Cultural Contextualism
by Qiliang WangThis book, based on extensive ethnographic material, analyzes the complex relationships between the law and various social controls, helping to answer the question of how social order is formed. Formal law exists in a web of complex structures and meanings. Accordingly, legal study must take into account multiple types of order, allowing us to understand in depth the strengths and weaknesses, reasonable and absurdity, and successes and failures of the law. In addition, the interactions of numerous actors shape the structure and context of the law. Exploring these aspects—while also highlighting diverse informal/non-state norms that influence day-to-day social practices, and which have never been replaced by modern laws—the book offers an insightful resource for all readers who are interested in the practice of Chinese law or in the connections between culture, society, and the law.
Good Faith in Long-Term Relational Supply Contracts in the Context of Hardship from A Comparative Perspective
by Peng GuoThis book provides fair and acceptable solutions to hardship issues in long-term relational supply contracts. This book uses an approach to strike a balance between the traditional approach underlying classical contract law which emphasises the almost absolute prevalence of the principle of pacta sunt servanda and a flexible approach that is based on the principle of clausula rebus sic stantibus. This book argues for an emerging principle of pacta sunt servanda bona fide on the basis of the relational contract theory. Additionally, this book demonstrates how good faith can serve as a foundation for imposing a duty to renegotiate on the parties. The aim of this book is rather to propose how relational contract theory can be applied to the analysis of specific legal rules in general. Lastly, this boos highlights how the duty to renegotiate and the power to adapt a contract can be further developed upon the occurrence of hardship, based on good faith and the relational nature and characteristics of a long-term relational supply contract. This book explores and enriches the existing research on relational contract theory concentrates primarily on its application in domestic contract laws, particularly in the regulation of long-term contracts in American contract law. As an outcome this book provides a more feasible and satisfactory approach for courts or arbitral tribunals to undertake when facing hardship issues in international contract disputes. Overall, hardship themes, long-term relational supply contracts and good faith are examined extensively.
Effective Enforcement of Creditors’ Rights (Ius Gentium: Comparative Perspectives on Law and Justice #91)
by Masahisa DeguchiThe problem of enforcing a money judgment exists in every legal system in the world, but the methods and orientation vary significantly. Effective enforcement proceedings are crucial to ensure full access to justice for creditors. Complete and full knowledge of the debtors’ assets is crucial to choose the appropriate enforcement measure. But each legal system must balance the creditors’ rights to an efficient enforcement with the debtors’ rights. The wide differences between enforcement proceedings mirror the way each society tries to find a balance between confronting rights and interests.This book explores and compares how different legal systems approach these issues with a focus on the discovery of debtors’ assets, which is a common problem for enforcement and execution proceedings in almost every jurisdiction. This is the first book to compare enforcement proceedings around the world and presents a variety of information and country reports from leading experts from four continents. It represents the joint work of academic and legal authorities from Germany, Japan, Korea, France, the UK, Switzerland, Austria, Spain, Poland, Russia, Greece, North America, Taiwan, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, and the EU.
Development of the Constitutions in China and the Visegrad States: A Comparative Perspective
by Lu DaThis book deals with the development of constitutional law in China and Visegrad states by employing a comparative perspective. It is the first time that the researcher compared the constitutional development in the China and the Visegrad states. It offers a few glimpses of development of constitution in the (former) socialist states to readers who are interested in the constitutional law or China–V4 relations. With the increased cooperation between China and V4 countries, this book gives the undergraduates in the university to think about the BRI and 17+1 network from a Chinese perspective. Last, compared to the previous works which mainly focus on North America and/or Western Europe, this book provides a new angle on comparative constitutional law.
A Casebook of Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility: Towards Business Sustainability (CSR, Sustainability, Ethics & Governance)
by Ananda Das GuptaThis casebook argues that corporate sustainability agendas should look beyond stakeholder demands and desires, towards strategic opportunities to achieve social and commercial benefits simultaneously. It encourages shifting focus from a strategic approach to a sustainable business practice. As the cases in the book highlight, it is in every company’s best interest to identify a manageable number of sustainability initiatives whose shared benefits—for society at large and the company—are significant and also substantially help the company strategically position itself in the competitive marketplace. Strategic sustainable business practices can lead to shared value creation, strengthening the company’s competitiveness and establishing a symbiotic relationship. Companies can achieve solid profits by doing good things for the environment; it is a “win-win” for society and for business. This casebook provides examples of multi-stakeholder partnerships that aim to create sustainable enterprises. Ideal for teaching purposes, after a brief introduction to the case method, the cases are presented with no comments or criticisms.
Emerging Pedagogies for Policy Education: Insights from Asia
by Sreeja Nair Navarun VarmaThis edited book captures key trends that are driving changes in policy education and presents a repertoire of pedagogies to prepare educators and policy programme designers to teach for better impact in learning and policy practice. Supported with observations from selected Asian universities the chapters cover the experiences of authors in working with students at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, as well as professional programmes such as executive education, training, and capacity building for mid-career professionals and practitioners. Part I of this book presents ideas that are asserting the need for incorporation of new content as well as teaching practices for policy education. Part II covers selected cases of application of pedagogical approaches and strategies in Asian universities, tested at different education levels, modes of teaching, and disciplines.
The Independence of the Judiciary in Bangladesh: Exploring the Gap Between Theory and Practice
by M. Ehteshamul BariThis book highlights that an independent judiciary is indispensable for the very existence of any society based on democratic values, such as the observance of the rule of law and respect for the human rights of individuals. In order to ensure that the judiciary’s interpretation of the law is not bound by the will of the executive and that it is able to call the executive to account by protecting the life as well as liberty of the governed, it is imperative to guarantee, among other things, a transparent method of appointment and the security of tenure of the judges. Taking into account the importance of an independent judiciary in a democratic society, the framers of the Constitution of Bangladesh, 1972, following in the footsteps of the framers of the Constitutions of India and Pakistan, incorporated in the Constitution the ideal of safeguarding the independence of the judiciary as one of its basic features. This book, however, makes it manifestly evident that the key elements for realising such an ideal have not adequately been guaranteed by the Constitution. Consequently, this book sheds light on how succeeding generations of executives have sought to undermine the independence of the judiciary. Accordingly, this book puts forward recommendations for the insertion of detailed norms in the Constitution of Bangladesh for establishing the best means for excluding patronage appointments to the bench and for guaranteeing the security of tenure of the judges. This book asserts that the incorporation of such norms, safeguards the independence of the superior judiciary to decide cases without fear or favour. This book, therefore, seeks to address the gap that exists between the theory and practice concerning the independence of the judiciary in Bangladesh. Since no book is currently available in the market that critically examines these issues in a systematic and structured manner, this research enhances knowledge by not only identifying the flaws, deficiencies and lacunae of the constitutional provisions concerning the method of appointment of the judges of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh but also the measures undertaken by the current Bangladeshi regime to dispense with the transparent method of removal of the judges involving a body of judicial character.
Law and Practice of Debt Finance in Modern China: Cross-border Perspectives (Modern China and International Economic Law)
by Xin ZhangThis book provides updated, full-picture analysis of the laws and practices of cross-border debt finance in the PRC. It is featured by the first-handed experiences of the author’s academic research and legal practice in this field over two decades. The author discusses legal and regulatory issues, transaction structures and documentation in relation to two debt finance products: loan and bond, covering the inbound structure (Chinese debtors’ raising funds from the international market) and the outbound structure (Chinese creditors’ supplying funds to the international market). For cross-border loans, this book thoroughly illustrates the foreign debt regulatory regime in the PRC and approaches the lending by Chinese banks to support exports and overseas investments under the “Belt and Road Initiative” (BRI). For cross-border bonds, it discusses how Chinese issuers, by designing various transaction structures, enter into the international bond market, and then researches the “opening-up” of Chinese bond market to both international issuers (for issuing “Panda Bonds”) and investors (for purchasing Chinese bonds). This book is used as an authoritative source for not only students and researchers, but also bankers and legal practitioners, who are interested in the Chinese debt finance market.
Documenting Mobility in the Japanese Empire and Beyond (New Directions in East Asian History)
by Takahiro YamamotoThis book tackles the question of border control in and around imperial Japan in the first half of the twentieth century, with a specific focus on its documentation regime. It explores the institutional development, media and literary discourses, and on[1]the-ground practices of documentary identification in the Japanese empire and the places visited by its subjects. The contributing authors, covering such regions as Korea, Manchuria, Taiwan, Siberia, Australia, and the United States, place the question of individual identity in the eyes of the respective governments in dialogue with the global developments of the identification and mobility control practices. The chapters suggest the importance of focusing more than previously on the narrative of individual identification, not as a tool for creating nation states but as a tool for generating, strengthening, and maintaining asymmetrical relationships between people of different socioeconomic backgrounds who moved in and out of empires. This book joins the effort in the recent scholarship in migration history to highlight experiences of migrants beyond the transatlantic world, and that in East Asian history to investigate the space and connections beyond the boundaries of the nation states. By bringing together the analyses on the trans-Pacific mobility and Japan’s imperial expansion and its aftermath in East Asia, it shows a complex interplay between state power and moving individuals, two forces whose relationships went far beyond simple competition.
Socially Responsible Consumption and Marketing in Practice: Collection of Case Studies
by Jishnu Bhattacharyya M. S. Balaji Yangyang Jiang Jaylan Azer Chandana R. HewegeThe book provides an overview of socially responsible consumption and marketing, as well as a collection of teaching cases that discuss and emphasize how 21st-century organizations, both for-profit and non-profit, are addressing socially responsible consumers and meeting their changing needs while remaining profitable. Consumers, governments, academics, and practitioners are becoming more interested in promoting positive social changes through consumption. As a result, this book aims to understand the practice of marketing in bringing about positive social change through real-life case studies. Consumption by socially responsible consumers who care about the social good is unique, not only because of its inter-disciplinary and substantive subject matter but also because it presents challenges and pushes organizations to make significant changes in the ways they have been accomplishing organizational activities in the twenty-first century, from procurement to production to sales and services. The book goes beyond individual consumers and their lifestyles to promote the scope of discussing marketing strategies. It seeks to comprehend how people consume and how socially responsible consumption is conceived. The case studies present and pursue integrated solutions for more sustainable consumption. This is a must-read for marketers who want to reach out to socially responsible consumers.
Non-State Actors in the Protection of Cultural Heritage: An Analysis on Their Rights, Obligations, and Roles (Creativity, Heritage and the City #3)
by Jihon KimThis book provides a comprehensive overview of international cultural heritage law from the perspectives of non-state actors (NSAs). In keeping with the significant developments concerning the status and roles of NSAs in international law over the last century, NSAs such as communities, experts, NGOs, and international organizations have become important participants in the implementation of international cultural heritage conventions. Indeed, due to the emergence of new ideas on common heritage and cultural rights in the 20th century, international cultural heritage law has become inconsistent with States’ claim to sole authority regarding the protection of cultural heritage. The author analyzes the texts of international cultural heritage conventions, as well as their operational texts, to track essential changes in the rights, obligations, and roles of NSAs since the mid-20th century. Practical cases on the status and roles of NSAs are introduced to glean empirical ideas and facilitate an in-depth understanding of their effectiveness. The analysis reveals that NSAs do have certain rights and responsibilities concerning the implementation of cultural heritage conventions, and their roles have been increasingly recognized. At the same time, however, discrepancies between text and practice can be observed when it comes to the status and roles of NSAs. They have emerged for various reasons, one of which is the politicization of conventions’ governance. Adopting the standpoint of the NSAs, the book emphasizes the need to explore innovative and practical mechanisms that will allow NSAs to attain their proper status and take on practical roles under international cultural heritage law, which will in turn ensure the sustainable protection of cultural heritage. This message becomes more pertinent to the current conflicts where various tensions between states and NSAs have arisen and the roles of NSAs have become more important.Given its scope, the book will be of special interest to students, researchers and professionals at government and non-government organizations in the fields of heritage, the arts, law, administration, and development.
A Decade of Disaster Experiences in Ōtautahi Christchurch: Critical Disaster Studies Perspectives
by Bruce C. Glavovic Steve Matthewman Shinya UekusaThis book critically surveys a decade of disasters in Ōtautahi Christchurch. It brings together a diverse range of authors, disciplinary approaches and topics, to reckon with the events that commenced with the 2010-2011 Canterbury earthquake sequence. Each contribution tackles its subject matter through the frame of Critical Disaster Studies (CDS). The events and the subsequent recovery provide a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to learn from a series of concatenating urban disasters in order to prepare us for our future on an urban planet facing unprecedented environmental pressures. The book focuses on the production of vulnerability, the human dimensions of disaster, the Indigenous response to disasters and the practical lessons that can be drawn from them.
The Politics of Educational Decentralisation in Indonesia: A Quest for Legitimacy
by Irsyad Zamjani“The Politics of Educational Decentralisation in Indonesia: A Quest for Legitimacy is a well written, analytically sharp, and compelling study of educational decentralisation in Indonesia. Irsyad Zamjani, provides fresh insights into this important topic. The author treats educational reform as a window into much deeper questions about power, the government’s responsibility to its citizens, and social change in Indonesia. His findings should interest academics as well as practitioners with an interest in educational reform.” —Professor Christopher Bjork, Vassar College, New York “This is a remarkable book which should appeal not only to Indonesian scholars, but also to educationists and political scientists, to name just a few. By tracing the path of decentralisation in the Indonesian educational reform in the early 2000s, Zamjani shows how the central and municipal governments struggled in different ways to retain control over education in their domains through various mechanisms largely related to claims of legitimacy. The study is grounded in new institutional theory, and the interview and case study data provide a richness and depth in showing the dynamics of reform attempts.” —Professor Lawrence J. Saha, Australian National University, Canberra This book discusses the dynamics of educational decentralisation in post-reform Indonesia. Taking sociology’s new institutionalism approach, and drawing upon data from documents and interviews with strategic informants, the book investigates how institutional legitimacy of educational decentralisation was garnered, manipulated, and then contested. Besides analysing global institutional pressures which influenced the national adoption of decentralisation reform, and the central government’s attempts to restore its legitimacy, the book also offers comparative case studies of education governance in two local districts to highlight how this reform is responded to at the local level.
Improving the Tax System amid the Rule-of-Law China
by Qiao Wang Weiqun XiThis book discusses China’s tax system, presenting a comprehensive and systematic research based on a multidisciplinary approach involving economics, finance, political science, sociology, law, public administration, history, and econometrics.With China moving toward the rule of law, this book proposes reforms to the tax laws and the stratified governance with a view to achieving tax neutrality, law-based taxation, tax equality and tax burden stability. It focuses on clarifying the implications, extension, nature, and features of a law-based tax system as well as the logical relationships between the optimization of the tax system structure, modern governance, law-based tax administration, as well as the tax-sharing system of tax collection and the rule of tax law. It suggests that optimizing the tax structure, reforming the tax-sharing system, improving local taxes, and restructuring the tax collection and management system will push China's tax system toward sound design and rule of law.This book is intended for scholars specializing in China’s tax system and general readers interested in China’s economy.